Clinical Manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Pneumonia in Infants / 소아알레르기및호흡기학회지

PURPOSE: M. pneumoniae is knwon as a common causative agents of respiratory infection in school children. But, it tends to occur in infants and younger children recently. This study was performed to evaluate the incidence and clinical manifestations of M. pneumoniae pneumonia in infants. METHOD: A total of 142 children(33 infants{Group I : Infants group; 0-2 years} and 109 children{Group II : Children group; 3-6 years}) was admitted with M. pneumoniae pneumonia from January through December 1998. We reviewed medical records and evaluated the incidence, clinical manifestations and laboratory findings. RESULT: Number of patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia in 0 to 2 years of age(infants group) comprised 23.2% of the total in contrast to 57.1% in 3 to 6 years of age group and 19.7% in 7 to 12 years of age group. Seasonal distribution showed the highest frequency in autumn in infant and children groups(45.5% and 39.4% respectively). The most frequent symptom was cough(90.9% and 96.3%, respectively), followed by sputum(81.8% and 90.8%, respectively), fever(72.7% and 66.0%, respectively) and rhinorrhea(72.7% and 64.0%, respectively). The common physical findings on admission were crackle(84.8% and 80.7%, respectively), wheezing(30.3% and 18.3%, respectively) and throat injection(39.4% and 35.8%, respectively). WBC count was within normal range in both groups(90.9% and 89%, respectively) and CRP was lower than 0.8 mg/dL in 63.6% of infant group and 54.1% of children group. The most common radiologic finding was bronchopneumonia in both groups (47% and 38%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Number of the patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia in infants age from 0 to 2 years comprised 23.2% of the total. Clinical manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumonia in infants were similar to those of older children. We recommened Mycoplasma pneumoniae should be considerd as a causative agent even in infant with respiratory infection.

The Relation of Food-Specific IgE to Recurrent Wheezing Attack

PURPOSE: There were some reports that IgE-mediated food hypersensitivity is associated with subsequent development of atopic disease in wheezy infants. So we carried out this study to show whether the food specific IgE antibodies are useful to predict recurrent wheezing attack in wheezy infants. METHODS: A total of 190 children younger than 4-year-old were enrolled in this study. They were divided into 3 groups according to the number of experienced wheezing attacks as 1st, 2nd and more than 3rd attack group. There were 30 age-matched controls who had not wheezing nor family members of allergy. We measured peripheral blood eosinophil count, total serum IgE level, RAST f1(egg white), f2(milk), D1(Dp) and D2(Df) from the all participants. RESULTS: The proportion of patients having more than 250/mm3 cosinophils in each group increased as increasing wheezing attacks(P0.05). There was no significant difference in RAST f1 levels among the four groups. In contrast, the proportion of positive RAST f1 increased significantly as the number of wheezing attacks increased(P0.05). CONCLUSION: Egg white specific IgE antibody appear to be a risk factor for recurrent wheezing in infants and young child.